“It is the vision and the objectives that attracted me to take this role. To be the most inclusive retail bank harnessing the spirit of progress in every Sri Lankan”. I found it interesting that the banks objectives and their vision is inclined to support the society and the rural economy says Senarath Bandara, Managing Director and CEO or Cargills Bank.
Colombo Times spoke to Senarath Bandara, who was appointed the Managing Director/ CEO of Cargills Bank Ltd with effect from October 2020 on his aspirations in his new role and other pertinent matters. He retired from Bank of Ceylon as the General Manager /CEO in March 2020 after 30 years of service. He has served on several Boards of subsidiaries and associate companies of BOC in addition to Lanka Clear (Pvt) Ltd, Credit Information Bureau, and Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd.
“The other key aspect is the entrepreneur perspective of the promoters Cargills Ceylon. They are very keen on establishing this business aspect. This is a new organization, my prime objective as an individual by working here is to make a sustainable organization for the future. In the sense, concentration on the 3 P’s profit, people and the planet. Profit is required for growth. In relation to People aspect, internally and externally we have very young dynamic talented staff who are trying to establish their career within the organization and to support the succession planning of the organization. As mentioned in our objective and vision, our focus is very much to support the people and the society as a whole. Our bank is there to support people with entrepreneurial thinking and progressive mindsets. Further we are conscious about the environment. We do things in the environmentally friendly way as we all know it’s our responsibility to preserve this country and this World for the future generation”. said Bandara on his role and his aspirations for the bank.
Agriculture and SME Development
Bandara shared his views on Cargills Bank’s unique business model positioned to support the farming community and entrepreneurs engaged in the value chain. “Agriculture and Dairy development areas are the focus areas for our bank. Nearly 30% of the population in Sri Lanka engage in Agriculture, feeding Sri Lankans. As a bank choosing to serve this segment emphasizes the responsible approach of the promoters to the business. We will endeavor to bring these communities into the banking system providing required guidance and support while enabling them to access finance at concessionary terms.
We cannot forget the SME sector which supports the livelihood of the farming community and many other cottage industries to find their market and opens up new avenues to sell their products. As a bank, we strive to work with SMEs and entrepreneurs to help them develop their businesses, and where possible engage with the broader Cargills value chain as well. Development of the SME sector is key to the development of any economy. SMEs fill a large vacuum in the economy, and they are the link between the micro businesses and large economies. I recall I visited South Korea a few years back and you could see the large organizations who are globally renowned now started off as SME’s. Entrepreneurship is widespread across the country and their economic growth is due to the rise of the SMEs who are now world-renowned names”.
He further explained, “The success of SME’s helps an economy to grow equitably. It affects the masses and it has a spill-over effect on the society, especially for people engaged in the agriculture sector. Our objective is to be the most inclusive retail bank. Our group works with many SMEs in the country across industries such as super markets, agriculture, dairy, restaurants, entertainment where the SME businesses are the key aspect in the supply chain Our bank is at an advantageous point since we are able to work with all these entrepreneurs. As a country, Agriculture and SME are the focus areas and as a retail bank, for us also it is the lifeline and we are pleased that we have chosen a path that could support the rural economy”.
Budget reading 2021
Bandara responding to a query on the recent budget reading mentioned that in the Budget 2021 its visible that the Government is aiming to reiterate what it had implemented at the start of the year. In relation to development strategies or tax policies the Budget reading cemented the procedures adopted before reflecting a consistency. It also focuses on supporting the primary sectors such as SME, agriculture in line with the Government thinking of reviving economy.
“From a bank’s perspective, the 0.25% on the turnover for the COVID 19 insurance fund could have an impact. We must wait and see how this proposal will be implemented. The financial institution consolidation has been brought into the Budget this year and it will pave the way for financial institutions to look for synergies. The consolidation of resources will support the financial institutions to remain stable in situations similar to the current circumstances”, he added.
Digital banking
Colombo Times inquired on the customer perception on carrying out transactions digitally. He explained, “At the outset adoption is tough. Sri Lankan people prefer to go to a branch and get work done since bank penetration is high. Every 10 to 15 km one can find a bank branch of any bank. So customers prefer to go to the bank in person”.
“Internet banking and Mobile banking have been there for a number of years. I think the Covid-19 situation helped the adoption of these electronic channels swiftly. Cargills Bank is the newest member of the banking industry and we are very much into the digital channels and all the digital channels introduced to the banking segment is available with Cargills Bank as well. We have introduced QR code payment methods, and in fact we work as the aggregator for fintech companies. So not only are we going into the market and facilitating clients to get their services, but we facilitate fintech companies to provide services to their customers as well. By doing this we have gone into larger masses in the society enabling them to complete transactions via QR codes”.
“Recently, we onboarded Cargills Food City to accept LankaQR code payments, in line with the Central Bank’s vision to move towards digital payments. Cargill Food City is a 430 plus outlet supermarket chain, and we have rolled out the payment option in a few outlets todate. We will be rolling QR payments out to other outlets during the coming year.
We have implemented a concept titled ‘Village to Home’ where Cargills Bank introduced together with Cargills Food City an opportunity for small scale entrepreneurs to exhibit their products to the mass market. We give them a covered space in the Cargills Food City carpark, and they come and display their products and sell it and even here we adopted the Lanka QR code payments. Customers were encouraged to enroll to make payments using Lanka QR code; so along with the Central Bank initiative we also did these projects”, he added.
“We have a unique solution called ‘Cargills Cash’ where our customers can deposit, withdraw and send cash to their family, friends or colleagues and make payments through the Cargills Food City outlets. We have enabled so many facilities through the digital services, so our customers actually do not need to visit our branches physically”. The adaptability is what is important. I feel in Sri Lanka, it will be a hybrid model but when the next generation becomes the active generation then I feel we will move from physical interaction to entirely digital interactions” he explained.
Further he added, “We have obtained ISO/IEC 27,001 and PCIDSS baseline security for systems hence we have fully compliant security standards. This is very important as we can be digitally enabled but we have to make sure our customers are safe and secure”.
COVID-19 safety measures
The Managing Director/CEO of Cargills bank shared his views on initiatives taken by the bank in adopting COVID 19 safety measures. “Safety measures is actually two-fold. One is that we have the responsibility of protecting our staff giving them an environment where they can safely do their work and we have to protect our customers and any persons who interact with the staff. Since we gained experience from the first wave, at the start of the second wave we empowered the divisional heads to decide who should come to work and who can be allowed to work from home. We provide the necessary infrastructure for the staff to work from home. During this time, we also noted that certain divisions can work from home entirely and it is an option for us to evaluate for the future”.
“We have only about 650 staff including the staff in the branches out of which 150 staff are working from home. From risk mitigation aspect even staff that are coming to office work in clusters and come into office on alternate weeks. We provide transportation for people who are using public transport and is required to be in office. We have a disaster recovery center so critical staff like IT work from the center. All the staff is encouraged to follow the good health practices. The call center support is available to the customers and this helps the team to cater to their needs”, he added.
Future outlook
“As I mentioned earlier, in our business also we are focused towards encouraging environmentally friendly proposals. We are very much towards the digitalization, online transactions, paperless environment, use of less energy etc. If you look at Cargills group, it is deep rooted into the society. Lot of suppliers are linked in the value chain with Cargills. As a bank in the Cargills group, we can be part of this Value chain and their needs are very much visible to us. Financing our small and medium businesses, we can show them the way to obtain growth. The market is readily available within the group itself. Everyone’s goals are aligned as we work together to revive and grow businesses”, explained Bandara.
He further added, “so as a bank if you see we are aligned towards achieving our objectives, a retail bank with a development outlook. It’s not an easy path to achieve in this challenging environment but if we are able to successfully steer the bank, we feel it’s a great achievement in life”.
As a concluding remark, Bandara sent out positive message to the business community. “This lockdown situation has given an opportunity for businesses to reassess their position. When you are busy, we never tend to look at how we work or how to consolidate. Now it is the time to reassess the position since there are new opportunities in this changing landscape. I also feel these challenges have brought some sort of discipline to the business community on how to manage finances how to be conservative in an aggressive scenario. So, there are some positives as well and I do not think anyone should be disheartened. Let us look at the positives, learn and when the things are settled the businesses can achieve much more than what they have achieved in the past”.
(Bandara served as a member of the governing body of Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and is a member of the Council of Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. He served as Vice Chairman of the Sri Lanka Bankers Association and is also a past President of the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka (2017/18). He has also served as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Rural Agriculture Credit Association(APRACA) – A regional association operating based out of Bangkok, Thailand from November 2018 to March 2020.
Bandara has a B.Sc. (Second Class Upper Division) – University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, a MBA from Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. He is a Fellow of Institute of Bankers – Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, Postgraduate Executive Diploma in Bank Management- Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and Advanced Management Program – Harvard Business School, USA.)
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Interviewed and compiled by Rifka Ziyard, Director – Tax & Regulatory, at KPMG. She is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Fellow member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Taxation, and has a MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Colombo. She is also the chairperson of the CIMA Sri Lanka Network Panel.
